Spiritual Warfare 101Sýnishorn

What Can Demons do to Christians?

As Christians, we all know there are consequences for sin. One of those consequences is that demons get greater access to our lives. Some people get stuck on the question: Can Christians be possessed? From my perspective, that is not the right question. The question is: Can Christians give demons access? I think the answer to the possession question is no. But the answer to the access question is yes. Possession implies ownership, and we are owned by Christ and purchased by His blood. However, access is clearly a possibility. Consider these two Scriptures:

1. First Corinthians 10:14–22. Christians can have fellowship (koinonia) with demons. In this passage, Paul is addressing the problem of Christians who attend pagan ceremonies and eat the food sacrificed to the idols. He argues that these sacrifices are offered to demons and, thus, Christians who participate in such occult activities are having fellowship with demons. Whatever it means to have fellowship with demons, it certainly sounds like Christians can do things that open the door to demonic activity in their lives.
2. Ephesians 4:26–27. Paul warns Christians who let the sun go down on their wrath that one of the consequences is giving the devil a foothold (or a place) in their lives. One of the consequences of sin is permission for the enemy to have access to us.

Sometimes it is argued that the Holy Spirit and demons cannot dwell in the same person. But the Bible never says this. In fact, in the book of Ezekiel, we get a pretty clear picture of how this could happen. Before Israel went into exile, the Glory of Yahweh (His presence) was residing in the holy of holies at the same time that wicked spirits were being invited into the outer courts. According to Deuteronomy 32:17, the gods of the nations are demons. Thus, when we see that the seventy elders of Israel were worshiping pagan gods in the outer court of the temple (Ezek. 8:11–12) and women were worshiping the Baylonian god Tammuz (Ezek. 8:11–12), while still others were worshiping the sun (Ezek. 8:16), we get a pretty clear picture of how demons and the Spirit of God could be in the temple at the same time. It is the same with Christians. We are God’s temple. The Spirit lives in our hearts, but that does not mean wicked spirits cannot get access to our minds and our bodies.

A witch doctor in the Amazon jungle was led to Christ by a group of missionaries who did not understand spiritual warfare. After his conversion, the witch doctor gave his testimony. You can watch it on YouTube.

According to this shaman, he had invited many spirits to “live in his chest.” He felt he knew the difference between good spirits and bad spirits, but when he met the missionaries he saw something he had never seen before. They had a bright light glowing from inside their chests (it was the Holy Spirit). When the shaman finally gave his life to Christ, the bright light moved into his chest also. However, it didn’t automatically evict the other spirits.

As a result, a war broke out. You might say that all hell broke loose because he now had a battle going on inside because the demons didn’t want to leave or relinquish control. The missionaries didn’t understand any of this and were not equipped to help him evict the wicked spirits, so the shaman did it himself. He went into the jungle and, with the help of Jesus, he came back free from the battle.

The point here is simply this: Christians do not have immunity to demonic activity simply because they are Christians. We must learn to fight. Thus, we put on the armor. We stand. We resist. We wrestle. The advantage of the Christian—and it is immense—is that we don’t have to put up with the torment. We have authority in Christ to deal with demonic activity and make it leave.